Collections record Beta

Painting - Abstract Landscape

1953-17-36

Oil and acrylic on paper landscape painting. A patch of sky in light blue, white and light purple is visible on the top left hand corner of the paper. The top half of the painting is covered in trees of varying shades of green. The bottom half of the painting is covered in grass and similar plant life in varying shades of green. There is a brown and green pond in the bottom left hand corner with patches of light blue to represent a reflection of the sky. Initialed and dated "8/9/49" in pencil on the bottom right hand corner.

Born in Philadelphia, Austin M. Purves Jr. (1900-1977) lived in the East Litchfield section of Litchfield for the last 40 years of his life. Purves studied art at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts and the Académie Julian in Paris, France, before opening a studio in New York, where he was director of the day and night schools at the Cooper Union. After moving to Litchfield, Purves taught art at Bennington College and at Yale Art School and was a member of the Architectural League of New York, the National Society of Mural Painters, and the (then newly-formed) Hartford Art School. Over the course of his career Purves did commission work for R. H. Macy & Co., the Folger Memorial Library in Washington, D.C., the American Battle Monument in Draguignan, France, the 1939 World’s Fair, various churches, ship lines and private clients, among others. In addition to commission work, Purves drew primarily from people and nature for his own personal sketches and paintings.

• Purves, Austin, 1900-1977

c. 1900-1977

Overall Width 12.25"; Length 1'4.5"

• paper
• acrylic
• oil